GLENDALE, Ariz. – There are three players in Dodgers’ camp this spring who have had 30-home run seasons in the major leagues.

There is Cody Bellinger who set the National League rookie record with 39 home runs two years ago. There is Max Muncy who led the Dodgers with 35 home runs in a breakout season last year.

And then there is Brad Miller.

Miller hit 30 home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016. It is a number that jumps out from the back of his baseball card, surrounded as it is by a total of 29 home runs combined in his first three big-league seasons and 16 total in two seasons since.

“I think it was kind of a natural development,” said Miller, in camp on a minor-league contract, trying to win a spot on the Dodgers’ bench. “I always could put the barrel on the ball, had a good track record getting up to the big leagues obviously, did some good things my first couple years, did some inconsistent things. I learned how to use my body, honestly. Learned how to unlock my full body and use my legs and drive the baseball, and got going pretty good there in 2016.”

That season was “a lot of fun,” Miller said. The years since have not been as much fun.

“The last couple years I was pretty messed up,” he said. “I was battling some injuries.”

In 2017, Miller played “the whole year with my adductors torn off the bone.” He hit only nine home runs and saw his OPS drop over 120 points. Bilateral core surgery followed the season but he was also playing with a torn labrum in his right hip. He was traded from Tampa to the Milwaukee Brewers in mid-season then released by the Brewers after they acquired Mike Moustakas at the trade deadline.

“You’ve seen the back of my baseball card, it wasn’t good,” Miller said.

He underwent the same type of arthroscopic surgery on his hip that Corey Seager had about a week later last August with microfracture added to address cartilage damage. But Miller didn’t have a team until two weeks into spring training when he signed the minor-league deal with the Dodgers.

The deal includes an opt-out date this week. If it looks like he won’t make the season-opening roster, Miller can become a free agent again rather than except an assignment to Triple-A. The Dodgers’ roster is not an easy one to crack.

“Shoot, no doubt,” he said. “But they’re good – that’s what you want to be on. That’s why I came here, honestly. I felt they reward performance.

“The big thing with some of these teams that are going younger – I’ll say politically correct, they’re going younger – a guy like me I’m not flexible. I don’t have options. I’m not a flexible roster piece. If I perform, they have no incentive to reward that whereas the Dodgers are trying to win. If I show I’m deserving of a spot, they’ll find a spot. No question. That’s kind of my mindset.”

It won’t be easy if Seager is ready for Opening Day, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts affirmed Sunday. Roberts has also said he expects outfielder Alex Verdugo to be on the season-opening roster. Add a backup catcher and utilityman Chris Taylor and there are no bench vacancies with a 13-man pitching staff.

“I like Brad. I’ve liked him even in his days as a young player in Seattle,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of energy. There’s a baseball player in there with aptitude, wiry strength, athleticism. For us on our ballclub, it does make sense because he can play anywhere on the diamond, a left-handed bat. I don’t know how it’s going to shake out.

“It’s tough. And I think Brad understood that when he signed on. I think we’ve done a nice job giving him an opportunity and a runway. We’ll see how it plays out.”

KERSHAW UPDATE

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw threw nearly 40 pitches in a full bullpen session Sunday, using all of his pitches. Kershaw is expected to throw to hitters for the first time this spring in the next few days.

“It’s been good,” Kershaw said of his recovery from shoulder problems early in camp. “We’ve got a good plan. Now we just go to the next step and the next step is live BP.”

MUNCY’S PROGRESS

Muncy tested his sore right wrist/forearm by taking a full round of batting practice Sunday after being limited to 20 swings on Saturday. Muncy has also resumed throwing. He expects to be back in games soon.

“It’s kind of a wait-and-see thing now,” he said. “See how we feel tomorrow.”

The Dodgers made a series of front office moves in the baseball operations department, promoting farm director Brandon Gomes to vice president and assistant GM. Gomes, 34, retired as a player following the 2016 season and joined the Dodgers’ front office. He was promoted to farm director when Gabe Kapler left to become manager of the Philadelphia Phillies before the 2018 season.

In addition, Will Rhymes was promoted from assistant farm director to replace Gomes as director of player development. Alex Slater was promoted to director of baseball operations and Duncan Webb to director of baseball resources.

The Dodgers now have two assistant GMs (Gomes and Jeff Kingston, hired last fall) – but no GM since Farhan Zaidi left for the San Francisco Giants.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.